Eat & Watch: Palmiers & Water for Elephants

Palmiers are a sweet and delicate pastry that are a great compliment to a large cappuccino. These French pastries are best when soft and flaky, but I have frequently tasted a hard and crunchy palmier which just aren’t as enjoyable. Inspired by Water for Elephants (2011) because palmiers sort of resemble elephant ears, I attempted to make my own palmiers using store-bought pastry puffs, and they turned out better than I had hoped for. Pastry puffs from the grocery store are delicious and great if you don’t have the time and patience to make the dough on your own. Palmiers don’t take too long to make and are a sweet and fun treat to eat!

Evenly distribute 1/8 cup of sugar over one side of the puff pastry. Flip the puff pastry over and spread another 1/8 cup of sugar over the other side. Follow the guide above to create the shape of the palmier.

Cut the pressed puff pastry into 1/2 inch pieces.
Tip: If the 2 sides aren’t sticking together, run a drop of water along the pastry to keep it from spreading apart when baking.

Arrange the puff pastry on a non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper, giving them a couple of inches between one another to expand in the oven.

After baking for 15 minutes, set the oven to broil for no more than a minute – this will brown the top of the palmier and make it a bit more crisp.

Palmiers

Ingredients
· 1 pastry puff sheet
· 1/4 cup of sugar (you’ll use this in halves)

Directions
1. Thaw the pastry puff
2. Sprinkle 1/8 cup of sugar over one side of the pastry puff; distribute the other 1/8 cup of sugar on the other side of the pastry puff
3. Fold the pastry puff from the sides in towards the center until the 2 sides meet
4. Make another fold (on top of the first fold) until the 2 sides meet in the center
5. Make one last fold until the 2 sides meet in the center – press the puff pastry together
6. Cut the pressed pastry puff into 1/2 inch pieces
7. Arrange the puff pastries onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 12-16 minutes
8. (optional) Set the oven to broil for no more than 1 minute until the top of the palmiers are a golden brown

{food photos by a dash of cinema} {water for elephants}